A life saved at lunch Published July 15, 2009 By Erin Blauvelt 87th Air Base Wing Public Affairs JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Airmen are trained to save lives on the battlefield. They are prepared to go into wartime situations where lives are on the line. The dining facility is perhaps one place one would not expect to find a life and death situation. This was not the case on June 19 at the Halverson Hall Dining Facility, when Marie Robinson, a cook in the 87th Forces Support Squadron, administered the Heimlich maneuver to Tech. Sgt. Elvira Jameson of the 514th Force Support Squadron. The two women were eating lunch when Sergeant Jameson began choking. As she turned red and pounded on her chest, Mrs. Robinson asked Sergeant Jameson if she was okay. When Sergeant Jameson shook her head "no," Mrs. Robinson immediately got up and administered the Heimlich maneuver, clearing the NCO's airway. Mrs. Robinson said she received training in the Heimlich maneuver when she was an employee at the former Walson Army Hospital at Fort Dix. She credits her quick and skilled reaction to that training. Sergeant Jameson is very grateful to her friend and now considers Mrs. Robinson her very own "lifesaver." "I just did what I was supposed to do -- what I was trained to do," Mrs. Robinson said. "I didn't think anything of it. If it happened again, I would do it again." Although Mrs. Robinson plays down the role she played in saving Sergeant Jameson's life that day, neither woman downplays the importance of knowing basic life-saving skills such as the Heimlich maneuver or CPR. The 87th Medical Group offers instructional classes several times a month on basic skills every Airman or civilian could benefit from. For more information on medical procedures or a class schedule, please contact Maj. Robert Groves, 87th Medical Group, at (609) 754-9784 or Tech. Sgt. Megan Moseley, 87th MDG, at (609) 754-9509.